One in five teens suffers from mental illness, but many don’t want to discuss their struggles, making diagnosis more difficult. That’s the impetus for the National Alliance on Mental Illness Say it Out Loud campaign…to get young people talking. Virginia Public Radio’s Tommie McNeil visited NAMI’s Richmond headquarters and met some young people who are doing just that.

Virginia lawmakers are all hoping to avert another round of those indiscriminate federal budget cuts known as sequestration.  But as Matt Laslo reports, it seems like those budget cuts are barreling back down on the commonwealth next year.

Virginia’s energy-providers would still like to see a large-scale commercial offshore wind turbine project off the state’s coast by the year 2020, but getting there is challenging—at best.  Bids to build two pilot turbines are astronomical right now, and the Authority tasked to keep the project’s momentum going is looking for ways to significantly lower costs.

Cancer is the leading cause of death across Virginia and the nation.  A new study predicts the number of new cancer cases as the population ages. Beverly Amsler reports.

Pamunkey Tribe Smithsonian Institution #888

Virginia’s Pamunkey Tribe was dealt a setback in its effort to gain federal recognition by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Matt Laslo has the details on how civil rights groups and a big casino may be winning the century’s old fight of the Pamunkey.

Students at the University of Mary Washington spent three weeks sitting-in at the administration building – demanding the school consider selling its investments in coal.  As a major producer of greenhouse gas, they argued that fuel was putting the Earth at risk, but the school’s  board didn’t see the point, and its president says two students will be prosecuted.  Sandy Hausman has details.

Photo: Creative Commons, Flickr

Human-rights advocates are applauding the passage and benefits of Virginia’s first standalone sex trafficking law, which goes into effect this July.  They say the new law is long overdue and puts the Commonwealth in step with other states that have passed similar measures. But they also say this should simply start the effort to pass laws that deter sex trafficking-which is the second fastest-growing criminal enterprise in the U.S.

Jim Johnson on his farm.

Virginia is juggling a host of contentious alternative energy proposals. An offshore wind farm, hydrofracking in a national forest and a 550-mile gas pipeline that cuts through the state.

But there’s one project on the Eastern Shore that has moved along quietly despite being the largest of its kind in the state. Pamela D’Angelo reports.

A bipartisan agreement unveiled by state lawmakers and Governor McAuliffe will expedite the construction of two new veterans care centers in Virginia.  To set the plan into motion, the governor proposed amendments to recently passed legislation that would have released state funding only AFTER a U.S. Veterans Affairs grant was awarded — but state officials say such a delay is unacceptable.

Governor McAuliffe and Senator Warner tour the Central Lab

The Virginia Department of Forensic Science has achieved its 10,000th DNA data bank hit.  The record-setting cold hit was announced by Governor McAuliffe, who joined U.S. Senator Mark Warner for a tour of the state forensic lab that analyzes DNA and other crime-scene evidence.

Image: Creative Commons

In light of the recent data breach at Anthem and what some believe will be an inevitable cyberattack by sophisticated terrorists, Governor McAuliffe is imploring tech-savvy business leaders and IT professionals to get aggressive.  He’s asking them to take additional steps to identify, assess, and defeat threats-as well as to help attract cybersecurity entities to the Commonwealth.

Gun-rights advocates who vowed to keep addressing an issue which they say violates civil liberties may have some ammunition when state lawmakers return to Richmond for next week’s Veto Session.  The state ACLU’s executive director is sympathizing with advocates who say LEGAL concealed-carry permit-holders are being unfairly targeted by law enforcement in neighboring states that do not recognize those permits.

An interim study by the Virginia Department of Elections indicates that numerous localities have voting machines that are wearing out—and some have potential security problems.  The investigation was prompted by reports of irregularities during last November’s election. The result could be a new and costly requirement to replace some widely used touchscreen voting machines.

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker joined U.S. Senator Tim Kaine in his hometown of Richmond Monday to discuss trade opportunities and obstacles with local business leaders. They especially focused on the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership, which supporters say would open up improved trade between the 12 nations that are involved in negotiations.

While the Virginia ACLU applauds Governor McAuliffe’s signing of a number of bills this past legislative session, the organization opposes his amendments to several bills that had aimed to reign in the government’s powers of surveillance–and which passed the General Assembly overwhelmingly. The ACLU is asking state lawmakers to reject the amendments when they soon return to Richmond.

The practice of “streeting”—or releasing people with mental illnesses when psychiatric beds are not found for them—came to light in 2013 when that happened to Senator Creigh Deeds’ son, who later took his own life.  But changes in civil commitment laws to reform the state’s crisis response system were subsequently approved and took effect last July.  State officials have unveiled new statistics that reveal the effects of those reforms.